It only took three weeks but the Ravens finally had their first training camp fight.
During the offseason, Ravens defensive end Art Jones uses mixed martial arts to prepare for the upcoming season. Jones trains in New Mexico with his brother, UFC Champion, Jon “Bones” Jones.
The UFC Champ would be proud of his brother as Jones and rookie center Gino Gradkowski got mixed it up on the turf at the Under Armour Performance Center after a no-huddle drill.
Gradkowski, who earlier in camp had a shoving match with Terrence Cody, was overpowered by Jones. We’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say Gino wasn’t a giant today and took a licking.
While the undercard was underway with Gradkowski and Jones, another fight broke out (we’ll label this one the featured event) involving right tackle Jah Reid and the majority of the Ravens secondary. Reid was about fifteen yards from the action and swarmed by white jerseys but didn’t back down.
After the fight, Ray Rice came over to drink some water and joke with the crowd in attendance. “Did you see me out there?” Rice said. “I was throwing some punches.” After sipping some water, Rice said, “training camp has officially begun.”
The field goal kickers took to the field after the scrum to help with their positional battle. The Ravens have been using a DJ to play music during practice and over the loudspeakers; the “Rocky” theme was playing.
It’s good to see players literally fighting for their positions. That’s the passion and the tempers of training camp.
Let’s just hope the guys save some of their energy for battling some divisional foes during the regular season.
